Kyoto cops: Carpenter buried wife’s corpse at construction site

KYOTO (TR) – Kyoto Prefectural Police on Monday arrested a 41-year-old carpenter for the dumping of the body of his wife at a construction site, reports the Sankei Shimbun (Dec. 7).

In early September of 2013, Toshitsune Watanabe, a resident of Nagaokakyo City, is alleged to have buried the corpse of his wife Hiroko, who was 37, at a home construction site in the Sonobecho area of Nantan City.

Watanabe said that he carried the body to the site by car. “I covered her with concrete,” the suspect is quoted by police in admitting to the allegations. He also said that he killed his wife, according to TV Asahi (Dec. 7).

At the time of the incident, Watanabe was employed at the construction site. The construction of the home is now complete. On Monday morning, police began searching beneath the residence’s parking area and a garden for the woman’s body.

On September 8 of 2013, the suspect lodged a missing persons report about his wife. However, with the suspect later developing a defensive attitude toward locating his wife and there not being a reason for why she would abandon her five-year-old son, police opened a criminal investigation.

On Sunday, police visited Watanabe’s residence and he admitted to the crime. Police are planning to file murder charges against Watanabe once the corpse of his wife is discovered.

Update: A body has been found by investigators at the former construction site, reports NHK (Dec. 8).